Text: 1 Sam 1:4-20; 2:1-10

What is the value of a human being? In the baptismal covenant, we vow our intention to "respect the dignity of every human being," an acknowledgement that we are to count everyone as equally worthy of respect in God’s eyes. That is what we say we believe. How we act very often does not reflect this belief.

The simple fact is that we do value people differently, using all sorts of yardsticks. None of us is immune from making such differences. The challenge every one of us faces is to see how this applies in our own lives, and to work at overcoming it, with God as our helper.

Today we heard the story of Hannah, and the song of praise she sang as she dedicated her son to the Lord. Hannah lived at a time when the assumed value of people depended very much on their gender. A woman’s worth was understood to be intrinsically less than a man’s. What value she had was tied to marriageability and fertility. A barren woman was a drag on the family economy, producing nothing of any value—that is, sons—while consuming resources that could feed productive people.

This may sound incredibly harsh to us today in North America, but there are still cultures today where such valuation persists. Hannah had the benefit of a husband who went against the grain, so to speak, and took special care of her—giving her more than her share of the sacrificial meal. Nonetheless, Peninnah, the fertile second wife, made Hannah’s life miserable, even though her husband tried to console her with assurances of love.

In modern terms, we might say that she felt that only by bearing a son could her own sense of self-worth be restored.

So Hannah returned to the house of the Lord, to pray that she might have a son, vowing that he would be the Lord’s servant all his life. The priest Eli thought she was drunk, but she denied it, and said,

Eli’s prayer that God would grant her petition gave her cause for hope, and

In due time the son was born, the judge and prophet Samuel, the man who would anoint the great king David.

This woman was scorned and counted worthless by other people, yet she was God’s chosen instrument in the advancement of his covenant relationship with Israel. God did not count her worthless. God did not scorn her. God called upon her to be a partner in the story of salvation.

And Hannah rejoiced!

It is likely that the "Song of Hannah" is a psalm of national thanksgiving, dating from a later time, but inserted into the narrative because of its reference to the barren woman bearing sevenfold. Nonetheless, its sense of exultation in the Lord is totally fitting to the occasion of Hannah keeping her vow after the birth of her son.

Even a cursory reading shows that this song very much resembles the Song of Mary, or Magnificat,(1) a metrical version of which we sang as today’s Gradual Hymn.(2) While Mary’s is rather more personal than Hannah’s, both songs praise God for lifting up the poor and the humble, and putting down the mighty from their seat.

Hannah and Mary both exult in the God who values all people, no matter how ill considered they may be in human eyes.

Humankind is made in the image of God,(3) endowed with the breath of the divine.(4) All too often, we fail to treat each other accordingly, as we saw in this story: Peninnah scorned Hannah for her barrenness; Eli rebuked her for supposed drunkenness.

Yet God deems great what the world often scorns.

This week most of the active diocesan clergy, along with a number of lay members of the Diocesan Executive, will attend a two-day training event led by two staff members from Church House. We will be addressing the issue of racism in our diocese, especially as it affects the divide between aboriginal and non-aboriginal Anglicans. The fact that this event is happening is an acknowledgement that we have not treated each other with full respect. It is a small first step in building the kind of community that God calls us to, a community based on respect for the dignity of every human being.

I pray that this endeavour will bear great fruit, as we work with God in the building up of God’s people. I pray that we may continue to learn to love others as God loves us. And I pray that our community will grow in its welcome of all people—native and non-native, rich and poor, young and old, not valuing people for what they are able to contribute, but sharing with all the blessings that God has so freely poured out on us.

Hannah received the blessing she craved.

Hannah returned the blessing, dedicating Samuel to God.

Let us then share our blessings with God and with God’s people, rejoicing in the God who loves us all.

God lifts us out of the dust, and brings us into his presence.

Hallelujah! and Amen!